The Desert Hills Thunder spoiled Snow Canyon’s homecoming, but what their win really did was set the stage for Region 9’s biggest game thus far.
In a Thursday night contest, the Tigers of Hurricane will head to the Thunderdome to face Desert Hills in a pivotal showdown. But it isn’t Thursday night yet, it is Monday, which means we have plenty of action to recap and break down from last week’s Region 9 play.
Desert Hills Thunder (6-1) vs. Snow Canyon Warriors (2-5):
Desert Hills 24, Snow Canyon 21
The Good News: The Thunder managed to hold off the Warriors on Friday night. The win sets up Region 9’s biggest battle thus far, when the Thunder host undefeated Hurricane.
Desert Hills had a pretty average game on Friday night. With 324 yards of total offense, they were just shy of their 349 average yards per game. Mike Needham had a big game for Desert Hills, rushing 18 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Thunder were solid, holding Snow Canyon to 106 yards rushing and intercepting five passes. Taryn Lund had two of the five interceptions, and Peter Brown landed 11 tackles on the night.
Desert Hills has the chance to change the landscape of Region 9 this week when they host the undefeated Tigers. They finish the season at 2-5 Cedar.
The Bad News: It was a rough night for Brayden Linde and the Snow Canyon offense. Linde threw the ball 25 times, completing 13 of his passes for 183 yards. The bad part was the five interceptions he served up to the Thunder Defense. With his 13 completions, Linde managed to find six different receivers.
Mitchell Phillips ran the ball 16 times for the Warriors for 57 yards, which isn’t a terrible total considering they were facing the top run defense in Region 9. The Thunder only allow 93.1 yards per game on the ground, and the Warriors managed to total 116.
In the end, Snow Canyon just couldn’t pull out enough stops to land the victory. The Warriors have two more Region 9 bouts, first at 6-2 Dixie this week, and then at home vs 3-5 Pine View to finish out the season.
Pine View Panthers (3-5) vs Canyon View Falcons (2-5):
Pine View 49, Canyon View 0
The Good News: The Panthers of Pine View finally got a hash mark in the Region 9 win column Friday night, and they did it in a huge way. The Panthers welcomed in the Falcons of Canyon View before quickly showing them the door. In what was a game of total opposites, the Panthers ran all over the Falcons. Pine View ran the ball for 396 yards, and meanwhile the Panther defense held Canyon View to a meager 31 rushing yards. Running back Prentiss Miller had 22 carries for 203 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Braxton Peterson ran the ball 17 times for 176 yards and five touchdowns. Yes, five.
The passing game was much of the same, Pine View 178 yards, Canyon View 56. Jake Arsianian led the Panther receiving core with 4 catches totaling 109 yards. Blayden Hosner caught five passes for 49 yards and one touchdown.
The Panther defense shut down any hope for the Falcons, registering 4 interceptions on the night. Wesley Moeai led the defense with 16 tackles including 2 sacks.
The Panthers’ dominant performance Friday night was what Panther fans have been looking for all season. Pine View has this week off before they take on the 2-5 Snow Canyon Warriors with hopes of finishing the season with back-to-back wins.
The Bad News: It’s not good for the Canyon View Falcons. They’ve now been outscored in their last two games 103-0. They’ve still only managed to put up two points total in all of their Region 9 games. Not only is their offense completely struggling to put points on the board, but their defense can’t seem to slow down anyone.
On the season, the Falcons have been outscored by their opponents 231-76, and in Region 9 play it’s worse, 170-2. Remember, this was a team that started the season 2-0, putting up 50 of their 76 points in their two victories.
Things won’t be getting any easier for Canyon View. They finish out the season at home this week against their cross-town rivals the 2-5 Cedar Redmen before taking on undefeated Hurricane on October 20.
Dixie Flyers (6-2) vs. Cedar Redmen (2-5)
Dixie 28, Cedar 26
The Good News: In the battle for third place in Region 9, the Flyers held their ground and flew out of Cedar with a big win. The Flyers book-ended two scoreless quarters of play, with quarters of 14 points each. This was enough for Dixie, but barely. The Cedar Redmen put up a huge 20 point fourth quarter, and nearly came back to steal third place from the Flyers.
In what was Dixie’s worst offensive game of the season, only gaining 264 yards of total offense, they still managed to get more points up than Cedar, who had 341 yards. Dixie quarterback Blake Barney saw a drop-off in his offensive numbers, only throwing 8-of-19 for 123 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
It certainly was not Dixie’s strongest game of the season, but a win is a win. With that win, they managed to keep pace with the leaders of Region 9, and bumped their overall record to an impressive 6-2.
The Flyers only have one game to go, they will host the 2-5 Snow Canyon Warriors on Thursday.
The Bad News: Cedar was only three points away from a three game winning streak, and third place in Region 9 play. Those three points should have been there. The Redmen missed the PAT attempt in the second quarter, and missed their two attempts at two-point conversions in the fourth quarter– that adds up to five points that could have, and probably should have, been there for the Redmen.
Statistically, Cedar outplayed the Flyers. Quarterback John Ursua threw for 139 yards and three touchdowns–those are huge numbers for the run-heavy offense of Cedar. The Redmen had 202 yards on the ground, and 139 yards through the air. But in the end, their inability to convert when they absolutely needed it, that is why they fell short.
In a cross-town battle with 2-5 Canyon View this week, and a huge home game against the 6-1 Thunder of Desert Hills, Cedar still has a chance to climb the ladder in Region 9.
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Region 9 has two teams in the Deseret News’ 3A rankings:
1) Hurricane 7-0
2) Juan Diego 7-1
3) Desert Hills 6-1
4) Delta 7-1
5) Stansbury 6-1
Region 9 is also represented in the statewide rankings:
Hurricane #7
Desert Hills #21
